Thank you Helpy Helperton

Today's Guest; Dave Palmer of Palmer Ace Hardware in River Edge, NJ. Dave talks about the historical site that his family has owned since the late 20's that is now known as Ace Hardware, River Edge and Oradell's go to spot for home projects. Dave gives us insight to the birth of Ace Hardware, its roots in military heroism, and the ins and outs of branding and marketing America's Largest hardware chain. Dave also talks about his love of surfing and grilling, and raves about Ace's featured grilling products and the well known "Big Green Egg". Check out the helpful hardware folks at 940 Kinderkamack Road. Don't forget to mention this podcast and get a free knife sharpening from the date of this video premiere to the end of July!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Since 1961, Court's plumbing has offered friendly, reliable service to residences all over Bergen County, New Jersey.

(00:09):
We are a fourth generation family-owned business, unnotched in customer satisfaction and professionalism while working in your home.
We are the hydronic heating and water filtration specialists, with a workmanship guarantee to put you at ease so you can rest comfortably.
We offer financing for those big projects that catch you off guard, and we have a network of excellent contractors in all fields for any project you wish to tackle.

(00:37):
Call our responsive office team and we'll dispatch a handsome and educated technician to lay the smackdown on all your plumbing issues.
You can also find us at courtsplumbing.com, search us on Google, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, T-Talk, and YouTube.
Like, subscribe, and share please.

(01:23):
We've been pretty rough with the new truck. Getting everything organized is pretty frustrating.
If you haven't seen it on the road, I'm sure you will eventually. It's not even tagged yet, but we went very large with the new truck.
It's a lot more to handle, and I'm noticing that now as I'm cleaning everything.
A lot more cardio to get in and out of it.

(01:44):
I need myself a little step stool to get into the...
Yeah, but the storage... Yeah, we still have to weld you on little training wheels.
Don't act like it's not difficult for you to get into the truck too.
Everything's difficult for me to do nowadays.
But I think once that truck's fully set up, there's so much space. It is wonderful. I'll tell you that much.

(02:06):
There's so much space for everything. It's like a rolling shop.
Yeah, it's overwhelming is what it is. It's overwhelming.
There's a lot of stuff, a lot of leftover from the old truck that you don't want to throw out parts that are...
They cost a lot of money, and you know that you're going to need them at some point.
But you don't need them right now.

(02:27):
You know what happens is we'll keep something for years and years and years, and finally I say,
let's just get rid of it. We haven't used it, and then two weeks later, some lady.
I was so angry at that. It happens all the time.
What else do we do this week? We rescue a bird. He's actually sitting in the shop right now.

(02:48):
I don't know what to do with him.
I think... Well, I thought you took him already.
No, no.
We rescued this. We stopped at ice cream at Cranberry Junction.
And I see these two little kids hovering over this little bird that's hopping around.
And I thought they heard it, so I went over to them. I was like, what are you guys doing?

(03:10):
They're like, it fell out of the tree.
So I grabbed him, and then once I grabbed him, he wouldn't let go.
And then I'm like, I asked you, I was like, do we keep it or just let it go?
Like, how do we... I don't know how this works.
There's a place I can take him, but every time we get out of work, it's closed.
So we've been feeding him with an eyedropper, a mix of mealworm paste and beef paté.

(03:36):
I said we'll let him go and let nature take its course.
He's gonna grow up to be like the largest...
What is he? No.
Cardinal.
No, it's not a cardinal. Cardinal's a red, bro.
He's a baby. He doesn't have his colors.
No, it's a... What the heck?
I don't know. Your dad told us, but I say let it go.

(03:58):
No, we have to let it go. I can't keep it. It's too much trouble.
Let it fucks you.
You may be hearing him chirp in the background like right now.
But all right, folks, listen, we have...
Everyone knows this business in River Edge, New Jersey, super popular,
and their hardware store in Bergen County that's open on Sunday, which is huge, by the way.

(04:20):
You know how many times that has bailed me out?
Oh, that's a story in itself.
We're being open on Sunday.
Guys, we have Dave Palmer from Ace Hardware in River Edge,
and the basically overseer of most of North Jersey Ace locations, right?
I'm the group leader for Ace Hardware for North Jersey.
You don't like overseer?
I like call me group leader.

(04:42):
I'll just stick with the group leader term.
At least I'm familiar with that.
We're trying to make it sound really, really cool.
The overlord.
Cool group leader.
No, Dave Palmer from Ace has been a staple in River Edge.
I mean, you guys are always busy.
You guys have a great location, clean, well stocked all the time.

(05:03):
Every time I need something, you guys always have it.
I can't say the same for my plumbing supply house.
I'm annoyed how busy you guys are.
It's annoying.
Anytime I pull into the driveway, now I have to pull into, like, down the street somewhere
because it's always busy and I have to walk up the hill.
I always get in the parking lot of shot and it's just like, I gotta pull around.
But how long have you guys...

(05:24):
Daily noted, maybe I'll work on the...
You gotta knock the building next door.
You gotta buy the building next door.
So you don't want to get too big because you're going to lose that small town feel, though.
Because Ace has always had that small town feel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, the model is get in, get out, get on with your life.
That's a good...

(05:45):
Listen, that's perfect for the consumer.
I can't think of a better way to really approach a hardware business than get your tools get
out because everyone's making four or five trips to the hardware store when they're doing
a project anyway.
Time is money, right?
Time is money.
But it is unique how you guys kept that hometown feel that small.
Because I don't know if a lot of people remember going to small town hardware stores, you know,

(06:07):
where there's the owners behind the counter, you know, and he's helping you out if you
need help.
If you go to Home Depot, let's say, they don't really know.
First, it feels like a factory.
You feel like you're walking into something that's not overwhelming, but if you need help,
you're not getting it really.
And when you go to ACE, it's, again, it is that small town hardware feel and people know

(06:29):
what they're talking about.
They're very helpful.
They're nice, you know?
So, I don't know, how'd you keep that small town feel, that small hardware feel without...
With growing at the same time, but without growing to a point like Home Depot where you're
like, we're out of control now?
Well, the crux of ACE and the crux of Palmer, the way that we were developed, is all about

(06:58):
being belly to belly with people, right?
So the ACE name stands for Trustworthiness and Honesty.
And even with all the digital stuff that we have in the ACE hardware.com and, you know,
all the different ways that you can place orders with us, nothing is going to replace
being able to talk to a person.
And, you know, with myself being there or having managers that report to me, someone

(07:25):
just wants to talk to a real person.
So even with, you know, over the years where you have impersonal type entities like, you
know, remember, Bradleys, Channels, Rickles, Pergamon, all these names, they're all gone.
While you're going way back.
Yeah.
Well, I was five then, you know?

(07:46):
So the point is, is that, you know, you got to, and there's growth, you know, people
need help.
I believe, and I believe even with our big contractor base, that it's a very, you know,
we go to market as a family.
So if you come into the ACE store, if you come into my store, it's about my employees,

(08:08):
I treat my employees in a way that I would treat family members.
So we're always, obviously you come in, everyone's joking, everybody's laughing.
That's a cultural thing.
And you know, I want my employees to treat, yeah, my employees to treat customers the
same way.
Right.
Because you know what?

(08:29):
If we help you, you're having a good time, you're getting what you need to do or what
you need to get, and you're taking care of your family, you're taking care of your dogs,
you're doing, you're enhancing your life, then I'm doing what I should be doing.
Because that's pretty much the model of ACE hardware is that we are here to serve, you
know, that's what we do.

(08:50):
I mean, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you out.
No, that's okay.
Go ahead.
I definitely want to touch base on a lot of like the features and stuff that you offer
your customers.
But I kind of want to go into the history because I'm just about a River Edge lifer.
You've been here in the area since you were 12 years old.
When River Edge and Oradell people live here, they don't leave.

(09:12):
So everyone has always seen that location.
Can you get into the little bit of the history of that location?
Because it was Palmer Brothers for a long time.
I know my uncle, when he was running the business, he was over there all the time.
You know what I mean?
If you could touch base on the history of that place.
Okay.
So a cool thing about the history is that my grandfather came over from Hungary, Germany,

(09:35):
and he came over and apparently my great grandmother timed it at the same time that
the father would be at the pier in New York through Ellis Island, same time that she
sold all the sunflower mills and sunflower farms in Hungary, Germany, so that this way
she could get everybody over.

(09:56):
Apparently she was like the really smart one in the film.
So come over.
My grandfather only had a fourth grade education.
That's all you need.
Go ahead.
I'm just kidding.
But he believed that if you could read, you could do anything, right?
So Great Depression comes around.
He started off as a painter.
So he started off as a painter and then he wanted to open up the paint store.

(10:22):
And so in amongst that, he was also a Golden Globes boxer.
So that's how he supported everybody through the Great Depression.
Oh, that's pretty cool.
Are you about to give me the storyline for Cinderella Man?
Is this what's happening?
Is your grandfather Cinderella Man?
I need to know.

(10:43):
So anyway, so he started this store and it's actually in the same location, but it was
much smaller.
So if you go all the way to where the key machine is, where the knife sharpening is,
you know, underneath that is like the really old part of the store.

(11:03):
And yeah, it's just super old.
How old are we talking?
So we're going back to 1929.
Great Depression was the 30s, right?
1929.
So anyway, my grandfather was pretty, was the entrepreneur.
So he just kept on building and, you know, adding onto it and buying property.
And you know, at the end of Gates Avenue, there is an actual Indian reservation there

(11:30):
right by the Hackersack River.
Really?
Yeah.
How did I not know this?
Yeah.
Because there's no signs or anything.
Nothing.
And my, my father, um, he would actually go down to the Hackersack River where there
was like rats and stuff like that.
And Tomahawk's one?
No, he would, he actually learned how to be a sharpshooter.
So he would shoot rifles right from the hip and not go off the rats down there.

(11:54):
And I thought, I was like, he's telling me this crazy story.
And then we found out that when we went through his stuff, when he, when he, when he passed
that he actually had letters acknowledging he was the best sharpshooter in the army.
And that's all because he was shooting at the hip.
No way.
That's so cool.
So I was like, wow, he wasn't telling crazy stories after all.
I'm telling you, this place, this area has such cool history.

(12:16):
And it's not like the history that you hear, like that kind of stuff.
He went down to the Hackersack River over there.
Like the way it is now, you can't ever imagine it being like that, where he's just going to
go with his gun down to the river.
It's a totally different world.
And shoot some rats or some cans off the, off, you know.
Yeah, that's, that's a true story.
I even thought that it was like, this is nuts.
This isn't right.

(12:36):
But anyway, it's true.
So your great grandfather, he was, you know, you said he took it over around late twenties.
Where did it go from there?
So it actually was listed as one of the top, the top 10 hardware stores in the United States
in the 1950s.

(12:57):
Wow.
Okay.
And then from there, my, you know, my father, you know, the, everything has like the, the
first generation is the entrepreneur.
Second generation is the maintenance.
Third generation.
Takes it to the next.
Either we screw it up royally or we grow it.
So I hope not to screw it up.

(13:17):
I never heard that.
I'm third generation, to be honest.
All right.
We'll see.
I mean, I have big plans.
Okay.
I got dreams, man.
Yeah.
But we'll see how it goes, but I've never heard that.
Is that, is that like a thing, I guess?
That's a thing.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
That's, that's a fair enough.

(13:37):
All right.
Continue.
I mean, to cut you off.
So the ACE hardware, the ACE hardware, you know, we have the ACE hardware sign up.
So a cool thing about that, you come into the store, you look over our, our what's called
power place.
Yeah.
You'll see two World War one fighter planes.
Yeah.
Dogfighting.
You ever know the story of that?
No.
The cool story is, is that post World War one, four ACE fighter pilots came back from

(14:05):
the war and they went back to Chicago and they all started four individual hardware
stores.
So at the end of the week, they would be playing their games or whatever, you know, the card
games and stuff like that, or they would meet because they're ACE fighter pilots.
And they were like, uh, you know what, why don't we group our buying power, you know,
maybe we can drive down the cost and we'll just, we'll buy together.

(14:27):
They're like, okay, cool.
So they started doing that and they were like, well, we need to call ourselves something.
So they're like, well, we're ACE fighter pilots.
Let's call ourselves ACE hardware company or something like that.
So if you come into the store and you look behind the checkout on the left hand side,
you'll see all the different logos going all the way back in the time.

(14:49):
Yeah.
So that's the evolution of the ACE hardware name.
And that's why, um, in some of the retro logos, you'll see wings, ACE fighter.
So that's, that's like really interesting.
American history.
I had no idea.
What is an ACE fighter pilot?
So an ACE fighter pilot pilot from what I understand, and I could be wrong, but it's,

(15:13):
it's, uh, it's higher than like a top gun.
Oh wow.
Cause they shoot down so many.
Yeah.
I could be wrong, but anyway, we'll go with it.
The top.
That's what I know.
All right.
I was wondering why you had those fighter jets flying.
It's so random.
It's like, I'm like, all right, it's kind of cool, but I guess, you know, you can have
some random stuff.
Maybe he likes, you know, fighter.

(15:34):
I think that's awesome that there's little knots all through the store.
A little Easter.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, like my surfboards.
Like your surfboards.
It's just me.
He was, we were talking off camera.
Dave likes to surf and I had, I had expressed that it was one of the worst days of my life
when I tried surfing.
That is so difficult.
I thought I was going to, I, I, I, at one point I was just like, you know what, let me just

(15:55):
surrender to the ocean.
Cause I can't even, so I can't even be bothered to swim back to shore.
I was exhausted and I was in pretty good shape.
Yeah.
It's just different things going on.
Whatever.
Just.
I do want to reiterate.
I don't know if it was, I don't think it was that clear before it was called ACE.
You said your great grandfather, your grandfather started it.

(16:17):
Yeah.
It was called Palmer brothers.
It was called Palmer brothers.
Yep.
Okay.
Yep.
So it was Palmer brothers before and then.
So your father started Palmer brothers or your grandfather started.
No, my grandfather started Palmer brothers because my great grandmother said, she got
to take care of your little brother.
So my, my grandfather was the smart one and his other brothers were helpful.

(16:43):
They were helpful, but they didn't, they were, my grandfather was the entrepreneur and who's
the nice guy.
So they were the supporting players.
They were the supporting players and there's lots of stories there.
So, but you know, that would go way back.
I mean, it's a testament for how long that, you guys have had that place in the family.
It's amazing.
I mean.
Court's plumbing has been around since 61 way after you guys have been there.

(17:05):
You know, and I, and I kind of, you know, I, I toot the court's horn for 61 because a
lot of you rarely see businesses open that long anymore.
Yeah.
True.
We had Critchley's on actually.
Critchley's candy's in River Edge and she talked about the history of that building.
And then after the episode I looked into it, I'm like, holy cow, man.
River Edge is like ingrained in history, in like early history, like crazy.

(17:30):
You don't even realize it.
But I love that.
I love those little Easter eggs, the little nods and stuff.
And that's super important.
And I think, I'm going to be honest, I think that actually adds to the hometown feel.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
It's a nod everywhere you look now.
Now I'm going to be looking all over your store.
For those little things.
I'm trying to get my hand on some golden gloves from back in the 19th place.

(17:52):
Oh, that would be awesome.
That would be cool.
Yeah.
Because then you'd be like, why is there golden gloves in a hardware store?
Well, it's a talking point.
Yeah, exactly.
Then you jump in, you give the whole spiel.
That's awesome.
There's a thing out there in Ace, in Ace Hardware called Coolest Hardware Store Awards.
So that's something that we're gunning for.
Oh, okay.
I mean, I do want to talk about, so you said this next second generation is maintenance.

(18:17):
Yeah.
Any cool stories for the maintenance period?
Cool stories.
Well, the one I could think about is apparently when prisoners would escape out of Hacketsack.
This is when in the 1950s, we would have guns at the store.

(18:38):
Yeah.
So it was funny that my father always would tell me stories that somebody came in and
would go to one of my grandfather's brothers and say, this is a stick up and he would be
putting his whole thing in his shirt.
Then my grandfather's brother would be like, if you don't like the prices, go somewhere

(18:59):
else.
And he was getting very irate.
And then my father walked up with an axe over his shoulder.
He's like, what's the problem here?
And the guy just dropped everything and ran out the door.
So it's just stuff like that.
Geez.
So Wild Wild West out in New Jersey.
Yeah, that's funny.
You know what?
Just to kind of branch off there.

(19:21):
Remember with the fireplace, which is gone now, unfortunately.
Fireplace on Route 17.
It's a Chick-fil-A now.
I'll never forget.
Like everything else.
Yeah.
I'll never forget.
Fireplace used to have all old photos.
Of where Route 17 and Route 4 crossed.
It was just a two-lane road surrounded by nothing but trees.

(19:42):
That's it.
And they just crossed at a four-way stop.
Isn't that insane?
I wish I bought that.
I know.
That was like, you're talking like 1945, like right before River Edge went up.
Because these towns, they shot up right after the war immediately.
But before the war, it was like nothing.
It was all farmland.

(20:02):
Yeah.
And you can't even imagine now, which is insane that your grandfather had that all the way
back to like the late 20s.
Yeah.
It's a huge testament.
We had another location for a little while, but it didn't work out.
No.
Where was it?
It was down at Hackensack.
And that's not to say that we wouldn't open up more locations in the future.

(20:26):
So it's always on the back burner.
You know what?
It's very difficult as a small business to keep two locations and keep the quality and
keep everything.
Yeah.
My father had the same thing.
He ran two businesses, two of the same business, but separate locations.
And one was always doing better than the other, always trying to supplement the other.
You know, because you have different demographics, you have different locations.

(20:49):
It all comes into play.
You know, and this could be super busy and the Hackensack one could be not so busy.
Yeah.
I wouldn't go into Hackensack.
I would, uh, something in Hackensack, but that's not, it's a tough spot.
That's not what I, where I want to go.
It's a tough spot to, to run a business down there.
And it's, you know, it's, it's very congested.
And I don't know if the market's there really.

(21:09):
You know what I mean?
No, it's not.
So let's talk about, I mean, the history is fantastic, but let's talk about when you
took over, when did you take over?
2006.
2006.
And that was when you took over fully, what was your goal?
How did you get there?

(21:30):
What was your plan and did it, did you eventually just stick to the plan or have you deviated?
My plan was, what was my plan?
You know what it was?
This is, is my, my father was entertaining selling the company.
Okay.
So he wanted to sell the company to people that I know that would not do right by it.

(21:58):
So what I did is I, I stepped up and I saved the family farm.
So prior to that, cause my, my father's viewpoint was let's stick with what worked, but what
worked 30 years ago doesn't necessarily work now.
Oh yeah.
Right.
But I was always from the aspect of like always looking to branch out.

(22:23):
So in the time period that I graduated high school and then, you know, my father wanted
to stick me in a role.
I, I can't handle that.
So I branched off in the early nineties.
I branched out into different companies and stuff like that and grew it and then started
my own companies.
And, you know, so what happened is that when he decided that he was going to sell, you

(22:45):
know, it was, it was me stepping up to the plate saying, listen, I want to save the family
farm.
Yeah.
And, and what happened is because I'm an experienced owner and I also have the other
companies going, we're able to work out something with Hays hardware and we were able to make
it happen.

(23:05):
Wow.
Yeah.
So you took over in 06 and I mean that store I have seen even just the past couple of years,
the growth, the, well, let's, you know what, let's talk about the big green egg.
Okay.
Because everyone who goes to ACE has seen the big green egg.
Yeah.
There's commercials.

(23:26):
I mean, you guys have it playing on the TV.
How long and you know what I want to talk about Milwaukee, all the, the, the big tool
section that you guys have like really instituted because that's relatively new too.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, how did you guys, how did you guys get into that?
Milwaukee is a huge name.
The wall is a huge name.
Right.
Is this something that, but ACE is a huge name.

(23:48):
ACE is a huge name as well.
But is this something that's like, it's a deal with ACE or it's a deal with your store?
So, so ACE stands for, we're not a discount house, right?
We don't sell cheap stuff.
Right.
That's going to break.
So we wanted to, we partner up because the ACE name stands for trustworthiness and honesty.

(24:11):
We also wanted to partner with brands that stand by that as well.
So we have what's called best in brands.
So Milwaukee is a best in brand steel or still is a best in brand.
Weber is a best in brand.
Big green egg is a best in brand.
Benjamin Moore is a best in brand.
Okay.
So it's all these premium brands.

(24:33):
Gotcha.
That do not go out on the discount houses or don't go on Amazon because you know, there's
a philosophy like for example, like there's a philosophy out there brand goes out on Amazon.
That's where you go to die.
That's where you go to die.
Right.
Door or cell found that out.
They were selling door or cell batteries on Amazon.
All of a sudden Amazon started knocking them off, making them in China and stuff like that

(24:56):
and made it look like door or cell.
And then door or cell was like, you know what, forget it.
And same thing with the big boxes.
You know, that's why, you know, it just ACE is a, just a cleaner business.
You could tell by walking in there, you know, I mean, and it's funny you mentioned the big
box stores because, and we found this out with Milwaukee tools into wall.

(25:17):
Is that couch uncomfortable?
That's good.
I'm good.
Half the people find it comfortable.
The other half.
I'm just digesting.
The big man did not like that couch.
We found out that Milwaukee, Moen, Gerber, Delta, all these brands, they make cheap,

(25:39):
cheap stuff for the big box stores.
I don't want to say their name, but we all knew we're talking about.
And then they have their real stuff that they sell to plumbing supply stores, ACE hardware,
if you're not going to, if it's since you guys don't cheap out on that stuff.
And it's, it's, I don't want to say.
I would you consider that deceitful to the consumer?

(26:01):
I wouldn't consider it deceitful.
I would just say, listen, there's, there's a bargain brand.
There's a bargain version of our product.
So some people like the product, but they don't want to pay the full price of it.
And it's like when we went to American stand, the American standard factory in, in Piscataway,
New Jersey, you know, they show you a brand that they sell to supply houses and they show

(26:21):
you a brand that they sell to discount stores.
There is a massive market for it.
Well, people, they want to make money too, which I don't blame them for, but I think
it's better for people to know you're not paying for the same product.
Right.
You're paying, you get what you pay for.
Like we said before, camera people need to know that though.

(26:43):
So you get what you pay for.
You're not going to get the life out of it that you are if you buy the actual.
I'm a firm believer.
You know, I buy quality and alas.
And buy once.
Yeah.
Most expensive things are usually the free things.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's true.
Yeah.
Not a cheap is very expensive.

(27:03):
So I wanted to ask, I asked you off camera, but ACE is not a franchise.
No, ACE is a killer.
So I am an owner as Palmer ACE hardware.
We own our own store and we're also a owner of the ACE hardware corporate.
So that means that I have influence on direction and stuff like that.

(27:28):
I'm group leader for pretty much middle of New Jersey up.
And we subscribe by similar thing.
You know, we have, we have, we have what's called achievements or performance indicators.
So we, my store is referred to as a pinnacle performer, which means that we subscribe to

(27:53):
a lot of the things so that this way we can perform at that level.
Gotcha.
So there's, so when you come into the store and you know, someone comes up to you and
says, what can I help you find today?
We're measuring how long that takes till when you come in, when, when, when you come in and
you know, they say, what can I help you find?
And you're like, Hey, listen, I need, I need some plumbing or whatever.

(28:16):
And then, you know, our B2B guy is like, well, let's get you in the system.
That's all being measured.
All those things are being measured.
And even when you buy that mowing faucet or whatever, and you buy it and you go out the
door, that's not only tracked that it's a sale, but what it got sold for.
And it, all that data goes back.
And then obviously with ACE rewards, then you get your incentive offers and stuff like

(28:41):
that, which we're driving through the app, because then this way we can give you more
in your pocket versus finally, finally through the postal service.
I want to talk about actually, you kind of jogged my memory.
I got a bunch of bullet points I want to talk about, but I had mentioned the green egg before.
I kind of want to just kind of want to fluff the store right now.

(29:03):
Listen, we're in there all the time.
I mean, I have my plumbing supply place that's right down the road and we have our hardware
store that's three blocks from the shop.
It doesn't get any easier for us.
No, I mean, it really does it.
If Ferguson doesn't have it, ACE.
If you see us on the road complaining about something, just tell us not, you have no reason
to complain about anything.
But I think when we, I was ecstatic when you guys opened the tools with the Milwaukee and

(29:28):
the DeWalt.
I mean, that was huge.
But the store, the fact like, I love that grilling is almost like the central theme there because
you guys have so much cool stuff for grilling that like that rack of like the spices and
the duck fat and stuff like that.
Yeah.
Stuff that I don't find anywhere.
Duck fat is amazing.

(29:49):
Is it?
Oh my goodness.
Let's talk about some duck fat.
Let's talk about the duck fat.
Yeah.
Duck fat is amazing.
I mean, it's just, I didn't even know what it was.
I had someone with me at one of the conventions and they were like, and she's like a gluten
free expert puts together menus for restaurants and stuff like that.

(30:13):
And I walked past this booth and they had like bacon fat.
Yeah.
And they had duck fat.
So she kind of like, oh my goodness, this is what they have.
I'm like, I don't understand the bacon fat, but what's up with the duck fat?
They're like, it's amazing.
You just spray that on.
You put that on like French fries and stuff like that.

(30:35):
And it almost has like a truffle flavor to it and a crisper really well.
And it's just amazing.
You can cook on anything.
Throw that on scallops.
You know, you put that, you spray that on scallops and you put it in like a, like a,
like a hot skill, like an iron skillet.
And you cook that on the egg where you're getting some of that smoke flavor in there.

(30:56):
Oh my goodness.
It's like.
We haven't eaten dinner yet.
Don't go too far.
Yeah.
I ate my nuts before I came here.
I have heard that like, I go bacon fat and like back in the, back in the day, like people
who used to conserve a lot of things, they used to save the bacon fat when they made
bacon and they used to use it to cook.
Yeah.
And I just recently found that out because I started seeing products like that on the

(31:17):
shelves, bacon fat, um, the duck fat, you know, it's better than Crisco.
There's, yeah.
Like this.
It's gotta be better than Crisco.
You put, you put that duck fat on or not the duck.
I've done duck fat and bacon fat on the outside of a turkey in the egg.
And you want to talk about like having like, like a French fry crispiness to the skin.

(31:39):
Really?
Like, oh my goodness.
The flavor is just incredible.
Yeah.
So where do you guys have Thanksgiving dinner?
I'd love to have a Thanksgiving turkey off that big green egg dude.
Oh yeah.
That's gotta be delicious.
Oh, hit me up.
All right.
I'll say, Hey, listen, we got a demo grill.
Listen, my grandfather used to always say, never turned down a free meal.

(31:59):
And if you can tell, I've never turned down a free meal.
But uh, so I kind of want to touch base on you, your third generation.
Okay.
I'm, I took this over from my uncle in 2015 and the industry, the plumbing industry has

(32:24):
changed dramatically in just that as far as online marketing, website branding, all that
stuff, social media, everything.
It's a whole different world because when I took over, I say this all the time when
I took over me and my uncle were having a meeting like, you know, I'm going to bring
you on, how are we going to grow and all this stuff.

(32:44):
And I was like, all right, well, what are we going to do?
What do we have for a website?
What do we have for, do we have any social media?
Have you ever been doing that?
I mean, we could maybe take out a yellow pages ad.
I'm like, yellow pages.
Are you kidding me?
Like, dude, it's 2015.
Nobody uses the yellow pages anymore.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
True.

(33:05):
But when you started, starting in 2006, like with, you already have the ACE name, I understand
that.
But you guys have custom trucks.
You have, you have a very distinct personality over there.
How did you kind of, how did you kind of tailor your marketing and your branding in such a
way that where you're at now?

(33:26):
I think it's just a matter of that the influence of, of the personality of, of who I am.
Yeah.
Needs to, needs to come out.
I was at a conference and our CEO, John Van Heisen is very big into that.
You know, the, the, the personality of the store owner, it's good for it to come out.

(33:48):
And, you know, I, I like surfing.
So that's why I have surfboards.
I, I respect the whole plane thing.
I was, actually, I wasn't going to go into the hardware industry.
I was going to go become a, a pilot.
And I felt like, no, you got to work in the store.
I was like, but I don't want to.

(34:10):
He was like, no, you're going to work in the store.
I'm like, this is awesome.
That's the German background.
You do what father says.
So you got to, you got to make it work.
But yeah, but just like, you know, 2006 for 10 years after that, it was, it was very challenging
because it was, it was a family business.

(34:32):
We did have family in the business, which families should not be in the business.
My father at the time had two presidents, me and my brother, which that doesn't work
because you can't have two captains of one ship go that way.
So, and then there was a lot of other things because, you know, we're branching out and
he was uncomfortable with, with things going in that direction.

(34:56):
But anyway, things just changed, you know, around, you know, 2019.
Things started just changing.
You know, we had to make some tough changes, tough choices.
We started a renovation and this was like right before COVID hit and then COVID hit

(35:18):
and everything was just crazy.
So it was, it was, it was very challenging, but um, well, that's where we're at today.
I'm very blessed.
I was
called courts plumbing and heating for top rated service in Bergen County, New Jersey

(35:46):
and don't forget to keep treats for Frankie on hand.
None of those things say wander around a warehouse looking for somebody to help you or walk out
not knowing if you got exactly what you need.
Nope, you have a list of things and ACE has them from the brands you trust.
We also have people like Pete who ask the right questions to make sure you get everything
you need because at ACE, we have our own list and great service is at the top.

(36:15):
People who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs who don't want to do the college thing, they
want an alternative because society tells everyone, graduate high school, go to college,
get a degree, get a job.
You know, yada, yada, yada, yada.
We're kind of trying to find the young men and women who are like, you know what, I
don't want to do the loss souls.
So I would love to comment on that.

(36:38):
Go for it.
Yeah.
All right.
So there's a couple of different things that I could say on this is at my store at ACE
hardware, we look to grow leaders.
All right.
So we're always looking to take someone, train them so they could be a leader.
Okay.
It's because if I want to open up another location or I want to put more trucks on the

(37:00):
road or I want to have just the other things that are happening, the ACE handyman services,
this way they can take care of themselves and they can grow and they can expand and
they can expand their knowledge.
Two years ago, we had at our ACE hardware conference, Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs.
Oh yeah?
Yeah, out of here.

(37:20):
That's awesome.
The cool about that is he said when he was doing that whole show, because it was very
organic, nothing was scripted.
He says, you know, people are going to college and they had all this debt and they couldn't
find a job.
But whenever he went out into like, you know, the country, there's always these help wanted

(37:42):
ads and they were paying a lot of money.
So that's why he came up with the Dirty Jobs because people don't have to go to college,
and all this money, not know how to use a screwdriver and then not be able to take care
of themselves because there's already jobs here.
So there's just, you know, so one of our things that we do in ACE hardware and Palmer

(38:06):
ACE hardware is that we look to grow because there's a lot of things as far as inventory
management, media, advertising, things like that, or just even the trades.
But in the ACE handyman, that's where we train people.
We like to have that or we have a structure as far as an apprentice and then a handyman,

(38:26):
then a craftsman, then a field supervisor, things like that.
So that this way they could be trained because, you know, there's a model as far as what people
can trust.
Also with our ACE, ACE hardware, we just announced this past March that we partnered
up with Franklin Covi.
So that means that people can get the training that they need for time management so that

(38:50):
they can reach objectives.
And it's just a much more powerful thing than going to college.
Say it, just say it.
So I've had professors work for me in my store.
Okay.

(39:10):
Very nice people.
I can't believe that people go into six figures in debt listening to them.
They can come into my store and just listen to them.
I feel the same way.
I feel the same way.
I watch just at a boredom, I'll check out because a lot of professors will put their
stuff online.
And you know what it is?
We might go off on a little bit of tangent.

(39:31):
If you're not comfortable with this, tell me to edit it.
But I'm watching a lot of these college kids who have such an, they're in college, they're
two years in college.
They have such an arrogance about them because they're told that if you don't have this college
education, your opinion isn't valid because you don't have the credentials to back it

(39:55):
up.
And meanwhile, you got guys who are miles ahead in critical thinking skills because
we've been in the real world.
We understand how it works and you have this, I watched your video.
You're creating a robot.
You're creating robots to do work, to do a job, you know, to do one job and not learn

(40:19):
anything else.
And I think that's the biggest problem, the biggest problem with it.
You're not creating critical thinkers.
You're not creating.
I saw one guy who is a biologist in South Africa and he was getting this influx of college
students coming over and he goes, you can't tell them anything if it's not, if it doesn't

(40:39):
come from a peer reviewed paper.
Like you can't take them out into the field and, you know, look at these things with critical
thinking for yourself.
It has to come from a book or a peer reviewed paper or like, you know, and then they can't
get a job.
They can't get a job.
They can't get a job.
They can't pay their debt.
But you know who does have a job?
Plumbers, because plumbing has been around for 6,000 years, right?

(41:02):
Yeah.
And stuff is always going to go down the drain.
Yep.
You always need to have it fixed.
Yep.
I heard one doctor was complaining that plumbers are making more than he is and he's a doctor.
Yeah.
Well, he should stop complaining and not call us then.
If you don't like us making one, why don't you don't call me?
Figure out your own toilet flabber there, pal.
I get that.

(41:22):
Like when we started this show, we used to dance around the subject and try to be really
nice now.
I don't even care.
Yeah, just be truthful.
Just be truthful.
We have, I got 1,200 customers on our roster and we have a really good customer base.
I mean, I have customers that have been with my grandfather that used to work with my grandfather,

(41:46):
okay?
And they still use us.
And for the most part, I love my customers.
But there have been, we've gotten calls where you can just see the educated arrogance and
I think it's really starting to catch up to society where, and I'm not even ashamed to
say this, where college really hasn't offered people anything for the last decade or two.

(42:09):
Right.
Nothing.
Right.
No return on your investment except of inflated ego.
And I heard some speaker talk about, like he was saying how the educated, they have such
a high opinion of themselves.
But when you look at every nation that has gone into like genocide or like horrible

(42:30):
society, it's always the educated that are headlining that.
Headlining society right down the path of destruction.
So it's not like I don't, it's not that I don't respect people who went to college,
but I think the trade, the trades guys and stuff, the tides are turning and we're demanding

(42:50):
respect now because, and I just put out a video on this.
I'm killing my knees and back every day for you in your filth that exits your body.
And we're not doing it for pennies.
We got to go to school for four freaking years and then do a fifth year journeyman year and

(43:12):
then take the test and then, and then do continuing education for every two years.
Our insurance keeps going up.
This keeps going up.
We have to know how to deal.
And American standards says this all the time plumbers specifically save way more lives
than doctors do.
They protect the health of a nation.

(43:33):
That's sad.
Because of sanitation.
And for years and years and years, plumbers, electricians that we were always looked down
on as the scum of society.
As if we did something in a past life, like we're the cat in the cast system or something.
And I think there's a blue collar revolution happening right now where we are busting our

(43:55):
ass for you with a smile on our face in your mess.
And we have to live here too.
I'm not, I'm not commuting from Eastern Pennsylvania just to work on your toilet because you don't
want to pay.
I'm sorry.
We need to live here too.
I need to support my family.
My kids have to go to school too or sports or do all this.

(44:18):
I almost had college.
Did you hear that?
But I'm sorry.
Like, you know, I don't know.
There's my thing.
Well, you know what?
There's a value with people just working with their hands.
Agreed.
So, and there's a certain amount of pride, fulfillment, achievement when you do something

(44:39):
with your hands.
And something is lost.
And, you know, not, you know, not discrediting any type of schooling or whatever because
there's there's certain application for that.
My son is a scripture.
So he actually writes programs and he's self taught.
But he's advanced, you know, above other scriptures, but still being, being in touch

(45:01):
with stuff.
And when people lose that, it things just get weird.
It's true.
Because you know what?
It's like the election or what you said with with plumbing.
If, if you can't flush your toilet, that's, that's your entire world stops.
Yeah.
If you can't take a shower, flush your toilet or use water.
What good is your basic necessities?

(45:22):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
It doesn't really matter what you know.
You know, what kind of weird stuff is, you know, comes from, I don't know, any type of
higher education.
I mean, there's there's a value to that.
But of course.
But if you can't flush your toilet and you can't turn on your lights, you got a problem.
Because that's I did.

(45:43):
I was debating an electrician on, on a social media day.
It was like, yeah, you know, like electricians, what are you guys going to do without power?
I'm like, listen, we've only had, we've only had electricity for the last hundred years.
There's a whole history without electricity, but we've been pooping and, you know, having,
having some kind of sewage system for thousands of years.
Yeah.

(46:03):
So ancient Egypt had its own plumbing system.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah.
This, the name of this show, you know, the plum bums, you know where this comes from?
What?
The original Latin word for lead, which translated to plumbing, plumb boom.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Max came up with it.
We were trying to figure out something and he came up with it.

(46:23):
He's like, how about, what did you say first?
Did you, were you going to say plumb boom?
And then it was like, no, I said, I said, I looked it up and I saw that the original Latin
word for plumbing was plumb bum.
And I'm like, plumb, plumb, plumb, and I'm saying it like a couple of times in my head.
And then I split it up.
I'm like, plumb bums.
Plumb bums.
Plumb bums.
A couple of bums to do plumbing.
A couple of bums to do plumbing.

(46:44):
Cool.
Yeah.
And then that's it.
So that's where it comes from.
So electricians, you're all right.
But we win just because of the technicality.
What do you got, Tesla?
All right.
Nikola Tesla.
All right.
You guys can't even keep it together in the winter time.
I did see my first Cybertruck on the way over here.
Did you?
I saw two, not this one over here, but I saw one in the city and it's so like weird looking.

(47:08):
It's so.
I literally on the way driving over here.
I was like, oh my goodness, there's a Cybertruck.
And I put a deposit on that, but I'm so happy with my Bronco.
Yeah.
You have a nice Bronco.
That is a nice Bronco.
I'm glad I, thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what?
Looks like a military vehicle.
It does.
It's just like.
A Cybertruck?

(47:28):
Yeah.
You're like, whoa.
Yeah.
But you know what?
It's like, I looked at it and I saw the guy driving and I was like, I saw these skinny
little tires and I was just like, yeah.
And then I heard that like if you drive it through like rain and like it stops and you
know, it like shorts out.
I've always said this.
I have a hybrid.
I have a Lexus hybrid.
Oh, I love the best.
I had my Lexus.

(47:49):
I love that thing.
The best cars never have any issues with it.
I have 180,000 miles.
No issues with it.
I can take it from here to California and back without RX 400H.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I always said the tech and Toyota actually said this too recently in an article.
All electric, the technology is not there yet.
It's not there.

(48:09):
It's not there.
It's not even going to be there by 2050.
They said you think it's coming fast or it's not hybrids.
They're only doing hybrids.
Toyota completely got out of the all electric lineup.
They said because one, it's too expensive for people to buy, you know, people that commute
a little bit.
You don't have the capacity for everything.
And it's so out of everybody's price range.

(48:32):
Like you want a Tesla, you know, people can't spend $50,000, $60,000 on cars.
They're still looking for $20,000, $30,000 cars that are good and reliable.
So good luck.
I mean, yeah, there's, listen, there's still a whole use.
I bought my car for nothing, but because people are afraid of miles, but they don't

(48:53):
realize that Toyota Lexus, it'll go forever.
Yeah.
You know?
I mean, the whole thing with electric, we've talked about it as well, like it is so invasive
on the planet as well.
People think that people think that it's a cleaner way to like,
You ever see the lithium mines that they, that they, oh yeah, it's terrible.

(49:13):
You see the, it's just trading one problem for another problem.
Tenfold.
Yeah.
Like the, the carbon, you want to talk about carbon footprint that for an electric vehicle
is so much more than, than a gas powered vehicle where we already have the infrastructure
to run.
But anyway, that's another tangent.
So ACE has, and I found this interesting.

(49:36):
Oh, you know what?
Before I go into that, who's a little cat on the truck?
Oh, so that's Piggy.
That's Piggy.
That's Piggy.
So that's Piggy, ACE Palmer.
So that's the cat.
He's my cat.
Yeah, check me out.
You ever bring him to the store?
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm going to put a costume for him to put a little tool belt on him and stuff like that.

(49:57):
So I, it's literally sitting at home and I just got it this past Saturday because we're
going to be wrapping one of the other trucks with my, with my face on it and him on it.
So we're coming up with concepts, but we got to do a photo shoot in the beginning of August.
So we got to be prepared for that.
Dude, animals are great branding.
Yeah.
Excellent branding.
Yeah.
I always love, love when she comes in.

(50:18):
She's going on, she's going on the logo, Frankie.
Yeah.
Frankie's going on our logo.
The white truck that's getting painted, the logo has her little face in the car.
That's awesome.
I'll show it to you.
Yeah.
I always love when, when, when you would come into the store and she would just like,
She just tooks around.
Yeah.
She just walks around and you're like, just stay right here and she just stays right
there.
I'm like, this is fantastic.

(50:39):
The trick is to beat them.
Oh, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding.
Geez.
No, if anyone met Frankie, she know, you know that she's not an abused animal, but yeah,
beautiful animal.
So with Ace Handyman, people can contract pretty much anything through you guys.
Yeah.
So the way the model works is that our handyman, we do projects that are two days or less.

(51:04):
So that's the way the handyman model works.
Gotcha.
And we, we give it a small, medium or large project and the craftsman, my employee will
show up with the tools, with skills and just take care of that honey-do list.
So it frees up people on, you know, from doing that stuff.
So instead of buying a ladder and doing it yourself, you just go ahead, pay a craftsman

(51:29):
and we do it.
They're all background checked and vetted and my employees and stuff like that.
How's that working out?
Yeah, good.
It's we're in our second year and we started February 2023 and you know, it's growing.
So we already, you know, each month that goes by, we're surpassing what we did last year.

(51:55):
Wow.
And then with that, we also extended out to other projects.
So it's like if someone wants, you know, a bigger project done, then they can talk to
the craftsman and then we can take that to a level two and then they could just deal
with someone that they can trust, someone that's going to do it right.
Someone that's going to use the right materials.
Someone that's going to use the right, you know, Benjamin Moore deck color, whatever,

(52:22):
you know, just do things right.
I mean, your competition would probably be the Home Depot handyman, right?
Um, just Home Depot handyman?
Yeah, they'll have contractors that you still sub out.
It's all the Eastern Europeans that that'll come.
I guess that'll work on this guy's on this guy's shed over here.
Oh, yeah.

(52:42):
Oh, they work for Home Depot?
Wow.
It's literally all Ukrainians.
Yeah.
I don't know how it happens.
It works out like that, but it's so funny.
Ukrainians and Croatians, they love that stuff.
But uh, I think if that's your competition and if you guys are vetting and on top of

(53:05):
that, yeah, I mean, it's going to be successful because.
Well, I don't know if you said it on camera, but ACE is the fastest growing hardware store
in the country, right?
Yeah.
The world's largest hardware cooperatives and we're growing too.
But you know, getting back to what you said before about, you know, people honoring jobs,
you know, we do have people that are like, Oh, I only want to pay $20.

(53:27):
I want someone to come here to do an hour's worth for $20.
So we're not, we're not for them.
Yeah.
Nobody is for them.
They can go down to Hackensack.
There's, there's, uh, there's a, there's right outside the prison.
Really, really cheap, really desperate for work.
Yeah.
You're taking a big gamble though.
Oh yeah.
We get that too.

(53:48):
I mean, they're really good with knives down there.
I mean, I sent him the video of that the other day where it was like a joke where somebody
said, I can find you somebody who can do it for cheaper and they're taking the measurements
of the boards that they're cutting with their hands like this and passing it to the next
guy.
So the next guy will come up and measure it on the board.
Oh yeah.
Like, well, you know what?

(54:09):
That's a fact, you get what you pay for.
Absolutely.
And some people just don't get it.
I've, I've, I, I haven't had like a fight in real life, but we, when I post videos and
stuff and saying like, listen, we're not, and I tell people all the time, like if a
new customer, I'm like, we're not the cheapest plumber, right?

(54:31):
We're not the most expensive.
And I know that we try to sit right in the middle somewhere, right on the higher end
because I want to be able to take care of my employees and then in turn they're going
to take care of your house.
They're going to do a good job.
They're going to, they're going to keep their trucks clean.
They're going to do this.

(54:51):
They're going to keep their boots clean.
They're going to keep their uniforms clean.
They're going to be kind to you.
They're not going to steal from you.
I mean, I've been in the trades for a long time.
The horror stories are insane.
And if you don't pay the employees well, and if you don't charge well, you're going
to get a schmuck in your house.
You're going to be unhappy.
It's going to have to be ripped out and reinstalled.

(55:14):
Cheap turns out to be the most expensive every time.
That's right.
People don't, sometimes, what's the phrase?
People don't have the time, patience or money to do it right the first time, but they have
plenty of time, patience and money to do it right.
Right.
Right.
It's, I hear horror stories all the time.
So what goes more?
Doing it right the first time or doing it twice?

(55:35):
Just getting it done.
Do it right.
And do it right or don't do it at all?
Right.
Exactly.
And I've, I tell people all the time, because I've given estimates and I said, listen, this
is where I'm at.
And they're like, oh, geez.
I mean, we've had a guy come in here and he's like $3,000 less than you.

(55:55):
And I'm just like, go for it.
Go ahead.
And here's my number.
It's going to cost more for me to rip out itself.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And then when he screws up, just add a couple zeros to this one and I'll come back and I'll
fix it.
But it's not an arrogance thing.
It's not like, it's just, it is what it is.

(56:16):
It is what it is.
It costs me money.
That's the way it works.
The overhead is insane for us.
Not just that.
Like you can go, even if it's not us, you can go into people's homes and there's also an
art to these, all of these trades.
There's an art to all of these things, electrical, plumbing, HVAC.

(56:36):
I've walked into people's houses that I haven't done the plumbing in and I've said, wow, that
looks terrible.
I've walked into other people's houses and said, wow, that plumbing looks amazing.
Whoever was here before, I don't know why you didn't call them back.
Right.
And you can't get a hold of them, but it looks amazing.
Yeah.
You know, and you should see that as a homeowner too when you come into your, you know, your

(56:57):
boiler room.
You know, you come into your, you know, your utility room and you see plumbing that's
running across and it doesn't make your room look ugly.
Yeah.
It makes everything look nice.
Nice straight plumbing valves.
It's secured to the wall.
You can easily figure out if you have an emergency where to shut off.
I mean, when we put in a boiler, I'd train customers on how to do it.

(57:20):
Because people don't know anything.
I mean, we get phone calls for toilet flappers.
Yeah.
You know.
I listen, if you need a toilet flapper done, that's fine.
We'll do no job too small has been our tagline for the longest time, but I can't go to your
house and do a toilet flapper for $30.
No, I can't do it.

(57:42):
It costs me money just to turn the truck on and leave my parking lot.
Yeah.
I'm already losing money.
Yeah.
Then I got to stock the flappers.
Then I got to get to your house and match the flapper, then sit there and fill out the
it takes time and money.
So it's a lot.
There's a lot more involved.
Just pulling a flapper out of your pocket.

(58:04):
How did you guys, I mean, you guys have been doing this for a couple of years.
What the Ace Handyman or the Ace Hardware?
Yeah.
Was it like an instituted program?
Or did you literally have to figure out pricing and all this stuff?
So the Ace Handyman.
So 25 years ago, I worked with the CEO of Ace Hardware to come up with this plan, to come
up with this company.

(58:24):
And we just couldn't get it right.
Really?
Couldn't get it right.
And then he partnered up with another company and that didn't work out.
And then finally around 2018, 2019, Ace Hardware purchased Handyman Matters out of Denver, Colorado.
And they were able to create this model.

(58:46):
So then what he did is that they took it and then the Ace applied it.
So what's going to happen is that now it's getting some teeth.
It's being merged with the verticals of Ace Hardware.
You're going to see it more on the Ace Hardware commercials.
It's going to be more prominent on the internet.

(59:07):
Paperclip and some of the other artificial intelligence as far as when it comes to digital
presence.
But they were able to create the model.
And then we're just trying to bring it on more integrated with Ace Hardware and on steroids.
So we've talked about a couple of weeks ago, I caught you in the parking lot.

(59:30):
And this really caught my eye.
You're doing supplies and deliveries for trades now.
And you said you can deliver up to how many water heaters?
I'll get you whatever you want.
I mean, that's crazy.
Just to have that on a dime.
What's up with that whole program?

(59:51):
So the way it works is that that's the B2B part of Ace Hardware.
B2B part, business to business.
And that's where we cater to plumbers, electricians, painters, property management, tradesmen,
stuff like that.
But what happens with that is that you can go into your Ace Hardware login.

(01:00:16):
It'll just set you up because it's not the DIY version of Ace Hardware.
There's a business.
So if you go to Ace Hardware in the upper right hand corner of the screen, there's a
thing called business customer.
You click on that, just make sure the location says Palmer Ace Hardware is your preferred
location.
And then you just fill out the thing and just say, I want to have an online account.

(01:00:38):
What'll happen is that I'll be notified and I'll marry your internal account at our store
with what's on what happens on Ace Hardware.com.
So that means that essentially you can be on on your go on to the computer, be like,
you know, I need 40 water heaters.
I need, you know, 50 flappers, whatever, you know, I wish I needed 40 water.

(01:01:02):
Or whatever you need.
But even so, you can just go ahead and place whatever order you need, even if it's like
one water heater or one flapper or whatever, just be like, this is what I have going on
for the next day or this is what I need to stock my truck.
And we'll have it when we get in, we'll be notified at 730 in the morning in 15 minutes.
That'll be being processed, be picked.

(01:01:22):
And then you can either have curbside pickup or we'll drop, we'll deliver it right to the
site through either our truck or through DoorDash.
So you do, you do supplies that you have in store.
It's not from a warehouse.
So it's a combination.
It's, it's the stuff that we have in the store.
But if we don't have it in the store and you place the order and it's in the warehouse,

(01:01:43):
then that's a whole automatic thing that gets triggered.
Okay.
So you, you process that 40 water heaters.
We don't have 40 water heaters in Riveridge, right?
But that'll automatically just, the computer will just say, they don't have it.
Let's go to the warehouse.
Let's pull the warehouse, the warehouse.
Let's process it at three o'clock in the morning to make sure it goes on the next truck.
And then we get three deliveries a week and bam.

(01:02:05):
Our computer's great.
When they work.
Yeah.
Who'd have thought, who'd have thought computers would be a thing, huh?
Who'd have thought that this tiny little paint shop that his grandfather started would be
age hardware with the computer that they can, you know, that's what's amazing.
So what's the plans for the future without giving away your, your secrets?

(01:02:29):
Um, we, we build, we build on what's working right now.
Yeah.
We explore more of the B2B end of things, like for example, for plumbers, you know, can
we explain more on the tool section?
You could.
Yeah.
Not blaming you.
Yeah.
But plumbers plumbing is a whole new beast.

(01:02:50):
Yeah.
It's with, with material and everything.
It's, it's home depot doesn't even carry a fraction of what we need.
You know, plumbing is just a whole.
We'll work on that.
We're building more on the paint because the paint is a very dominant thing.
We have a lot of competitors out there that don't like us, um, which.

(01:03:11):
Good.
That's the way it should be.
Yeah.
I guess, I guess you're doing something right.
If you have haters, I have haters and, uh, it's hard to keep, it's hard to keep plumbing.
Listen, our own plumbing supply house, it's very difficult for them to keep certain stocks.
You know, so like to get plumbing tools, you have, you know, three different types of

(01:03:31):
pecs that I know off the top of my head.
You have multiple different types of copper, multiple different types of, you know, fittings
and everything like that.
You're gonna have different types of copper fittings.
It would be, it would be a nightmare.
I think for now it's good.
So what we can do right, right off the bat is that if you know what those things are,
just put it in ace hardware.com and the business section.

(01:03:53):
So then this way you could create your list and then you could just be like, I need this,
I need this, I need this, and I need this and bam, it happens.
That's fantastic.
Yeah.
Whatever makes, whatever makes the blue collar guys day easier, they'll, they'll gravitate
toward my thinking is that if you guys work, let's just say 10 hours a day and I can help
you guys do the same thing in six hours a day and have more of a life.

(01:04:19):
That's then I'm doing what I should be doing.
You want to edit my podcast?
I don't want to do that.
I don't want to look at a computer more than I act.
I'm done.
I rather look at my surfboard.
No, I want to look at the ocean.
Yeah.
I'm not going to look at my surfboard.
Trust me, I don't blame you.
Dave, man, thanks for being here.
I appreciate it.
My pleasure.
I really, we go in there all the time.

(01:04:39):
I said, we got to get this guy on because first of all, blue collar, blue collar, we
always got to rub each other's, let me put that a different way.
We always got to look out for each other, support each other, and then river edge business
on top of that.
You know, I wanted to, I wanted to get you guys on here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So thanks for having me, having me on.
No problem.
Guys, thanks for watching.

(01:04:59):
We really appreciate it.
Make sure to check us out next week on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Google, all those podcast
channels.
We want to remind you that Plumb Bumps is sponsored by Quartz, Plumbing and Heating,
the top rated plumber in all of Bergen County for over 55 years.
Give us a call, check us out online.

(01:05:21):
If you are interested in being a guest on the show, we'd love to have anyone from any
industry, we're always looking for small business owners, entrepreneurs.
We had a wrestler, an indie wrestler on here this week at any cool industry.
He was not a small business.
He was a very big business.
He's big business all the way.
But if you're interested in being on the show, go to QuartzPlumbing.com, click the podcast

(01:05:45):
button on the top right corner and then click the application to be a guest.
Fill that out.
We'd love to have you on.
We'll have a great conversation.
Folks, remember to like, share, subscribe.
We really appreciate the viewers that we have, but we're always looking to expand.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you next week.
Don't forget, ACE is the place.
ACE is the place of the helpful, helpful hardware folks.

(01:06:05):
I can't believe I had to whip that out during the episode.
Oh, we did that now.
Okay, there you go.
That's all good.
So we're going to...
ACE is the place with the helpful hardware folks.
I think we'll play that on the intermission at that jam.
We'll get stuck in some people's title.
Guys, of course, check out...
Let me do that again.
What are you saying?
Hold on.

(01:06:26):
Don't leave yet.
One more five.
This isn't live, so I'm able to edit.
I'll let you jump in on that.
Guys, don't forget, check out Pomer, ACE Hardware in River Edge, New Jersey.
Great staff, great selection, great grilling selection.
Grilling season is coming up, of course.

(01:06:47):
Grilling season is right around the corner.
ACE has done a lot of improvements to their store lately.
They have that whole tool section, Milwaukee DeWalt, excellent staff, very helpful, very
hometown feel.
Check out ACE on Kinderkermack and River Edge.
You guys on social media, Instagram or anything like that?
Yeah.
What's the...
Pomer, ACE Hardware.

(01:07:07):
Pomer, ACE Hardware on Facebook, Instagram.
Yep, you'll see Piggy there.
You'll see some of the other stuff there.
Actually, we just posted the Ego.
So you're familiar with all the Ego products.
So we have motorcycles in the store now.
Oh, yeah, I did see that.
So the motorcycle, yeah.
Is that an electric or electric?
It's electric.

(01:07:28):
So the same battery that you use for your tools is the same battery that you use for
the...
And that thing is fast for it, for the motorcycle, yeah.
Gets you around a little city living, I guess.
Yeah, it's really cool.
Good for that.
And don't forget, we got paint.
That's a big thing.
We got motorcycles and we got paint.
What's that?
We have motorcycles, we got paint.
We got paint, we got lawn and garden, we got plumbing.

(01:07:51):
So come down, mention this ad.
We'll give you a free one free knife sharpening because we got that laser, automatic laser
thing.
Oh, that's right.
That thing is super cool.
I gotta bring my knives in for that, too.
Such a cool thing.
We have so much there.
But yeah, most of the really best painters in Bergen County do come to us.

(01:08:11):
We're growing with that.
So we know paint and...
And you guys are open on Sunday till 2 o'clock.
Yeah, that's another podcast story.
That is a huge thing.
That's a huge thing.
A huge YouTube podcast story on how that happened.
Yeah.
We're gonna have to have you come back on and talk about that.
Last week.
All right, folks.
We'll see you here next week.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you here next time.

(01:09:00):
Bye.